The separation and sorting of particles having different properties has many valuable industrial, medical, pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and scientific applications. Various methods and devices for the separation and/or sorting of particles based on differences in physical or chemical properties of the particles are known in the art. For example, methods for separating or sorting living cells, sub-cellular components and organelles, macromolecules, molecular complexes, or multimolecular aggregates of biological or synthetic origin are often required in the fields of biotechnology, medicine, diagnostic testing, drug development, and drug screening. Such sorting or separation methods may include centrifugation methods, density gradient separation methods, magnetic-based separation methods, flow cytometry (FC) methods, and fluorescence assisted cell sorting (FACS) methods. The two leading methods in quality cell separation are flow cytometry and magnetic separation. In flow cytometry, cells are marked with fluorescent tags and passed single-file through a measuring apparatus, deflecting cells on the basis of the their markers. This method is efficient, however remains limited in specificity. It is also time consuming, and the apparatus required is highly expensive. Similarly, magnetic separation involves tagging the desired cells with magnetic particles, causing these cells to adhere to regions of high magnetic field. While this method can process large quantities of cells at once and is therefore much more time efficient in comparison with flow cytometry, it offers low selectivity and high cost, although significantly less expensive than flow cytometry systems. WO 02/078906 A2 discloses a method and device for sorting and separating particles based on selective adherence of particle on metal grain, such as silver halide, coated light sensitive surface by irradiation of specific location a particle residing followed by a photochemical development process. However, the disclosed process requires a light tight device and involves a complicated process to operate. New separation methods are necessary that will increase the specificity of cells to be separated, while maintaining high selectivity and providing affordable and simple equipment to a broader market range.